Aretha Lazuli
Subordinate Female Aretha(VLF094) was born on Febuary 22, 2004 in the Lazuli Mob. Her mother was Cazanna and her father was Basil. She was born in a litter of five pups. Her litter-mates were her two brothersZiggy Ziggy(VLM093) and Jethro(VLM096) and two sisters Jane(VLF095) and Penny(VLF097). She and her litter-mates survived to adulthood. Aretha lived the life of a subordinate female in the Lazuli, under her mother Cazanna. Like all subordinate females she was not allowed to breed. She helped rear many other pups born in the group to her mother. She was a frequent sentry and was often seen babysitting the groups' pups. She did however become pregnant for the first time in her life and she, along with another subordinate female, gave birth, but none of their pups survived. Her father Basil, who was dominant male of the Lazuli family, soon died from TB, leaving her mother Cazanna without a breeding partner. Her bother JD took over dominance. Cazanna was dominant for six years and died in the winter of 2006, and the role of leader had to be taken. Dominant Female Aretha was among the oldest females in the group by that time and established dominance over the other females. There were no unrelated males in the group so dominance was taken up by her brother Padloper. Aretha had trouble keeping her litters, mostly losting them to other pregnant females or aborting. Her sisters were able to produced successful litters that kept the Lazuli's numbers stable. Then in August 2007, Padloper died, leaving Aretha's nephew J. Alfred Prufrock as the new dominant male. The group numbers kept on falling due to disappearances or deaths. Aretha then started to evicted females, and the group's numbers fell to twelve. Then in March 2008, Aretha and Caroline produced two litters but sadly all four pups died. Aretha's reign was short; lastling only a year and a half. On May 19, 2008, Aretha was attacked by a predator and died soon after. Her niece Young took over the role of dominant female in the Lazuli after Aretha's death. A month after Aretha's death, all the adult males left the Lazuli allowing a group of five Whiskers males joined the Lazuli. Meerkat Manor Aretha played Marylin, a subordinate female in season 2 of Meerkat Manor. She was seen as a young babysitter for Cazanna's two pups named Bubble and Squeak. They were the last litter fathered by Big Si(Basil) the former dominant male how had died during the winter. While the rest of the Lazuli where away foraging, the inexperince female was faced against the worst situation, the threated Commandos(Vivian) had located the babysitting burrow. Unable to fend off the entire Commando mob, she was forced to flee. However she did not get away sotch fee, a crack team of Commandos chased her. Luckily for her, the Lazuli later came back but it was too late for one of the pups. Marylin survived but was badly injured and only one pup survived the attack. She wasn't seen after this and the Lazuli were written out of the show. However the Lazuli were not gone forever and in season 4 made a come back. Aretha and the Lazuli reappeared in Meerkat Manor Season 4 episode "To The Manor Born" when the Whisker's old rivals the Lazuli re-appeared on the Manor and went into battle fight with the Aztecs, Aretha was briefly seen and mentioned as the new dominant female of the Lazuli after Cazanna had died. Gallery Pictures of Aretha. 4a7f5bd622-1-.jpg|Aretha foraging Aretha VLF094.jpg|Aretha Aretha Under Attack.jpg|Areatha as herself Links Lazuli Mob Cazanna Lazuli Ziggy Lazuli Category:Lazuli meerkats Category:Dominant meerkats Category:Dominant Females Category:Deceased meerkats